Native recently opened in Santa Monica.

I thought I would give it a try even though I was not impressed with Top Chef contestant, Nyesha Arrington’s, last restaurant, Leona, located in Venice, California.

Chef Arrington is a young African-American woman, born and raised in L.A., whose love of cooking began in her Korean grandmother’s kitchen.

The 95-seater is very attractive and we were warmly greeted.

We chose to sit outside on the enclosed patio.

The kick off at the farmer market-driven restaurant was not memorable.

I rarely complain at restaurants (I do my fair share in regular, non-eating environments).

I had selected a lovely cabernet at $18 a glass.

My pour was the same size as when they offer a sample taste.

The person next to me had just received her wine and her pour was triple the size of mine.

I checked out the people at the bar and again their pours were ample.

I mentioned this to the server and she apologized and topped me off, but come on, $18 for a glass of wine and you are given two sips.

Okay, moving on.

We ordered Asparagus with green garlic pistou, puffed rice pearls and truffle vinaigrette. It was very good, but the asparagus arrived chilled. That’s fine, but let me know first ($15).

Next on the food parade, Beets with roasted strawberry Romesco and puffed quinoa. The beets were tasty, but there was 1 strawberry…again, come on ($16).

The server recommended the Melting Salt Baked Leeks with comte which was non-existent and grapefruit cremilata which added a nice citrus taste, but the dish was very disappointing ($10).

The best item was the Mushroom Spaghetti with shitake mushrooms, arugula and local burrata. It was delicious, but meager. Seriously, how much does it cost you for a decent size serving of pasta. The dish was considered a main ($20).

I called and mentioned that this was a bigly birthday for my husband, but nothing was even offered.

I would never go to another Nyesha Arrington restaurant.

You can keep your overly complicated items and farmer’s market driven veggies.

I choose to “drive” myself to another restaurant.

Native 620 Santa Monica Boulevard Santa Monica, California. Dinner Sunday, Tuesday-Thursday 5:30-10:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. Brunch on Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Reservations on RESY.